In numerous printers the printed text is printed on a paper strip unrolled from a delivery roll, where the printed segment of the paper strip is automatically severed or notched after the printing in such a way that only a narrow tear-off web remains as a connection between the printed segment and the remaining part of the upper strip.
There are already printers in use with a device of the type of the species in which the cutter is moved by a moving drive against the force of a spring into a starting position and is locked there; for the cutting process the locking is released so that the cutter is moved by the spring in the cutting direction. After the paper strip is severed, the cutter strikes against a stop which delimits the path of the cutter in the cutting direction. In order to manage that the paper strip is merely notched, a further stop is provided which can be swung by an adjusting device into the path of the cutter and which limits the path of the cutter in the cutting direction in such a way that the desired tear-off web remains intact. The known device is very complicated technically, since a moving drive for moving the cutter into its starting position, a locking device operable by a control drive and also a control device for moving the second stop between its active position and its inactive position must be provided. Besides this, driving springs always represent critical component parts the failure rate of which is relatively high. A further disadvantage is also seen in that the noise generated by the cutter in striking against the stops is relatively great.